Chris Knoche Recaps Terps First Loss

COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 22: Jake Layman #10 of the Maryland Terrapins celebrates after a three-pointer against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the first half during the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 22, 2015 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)(Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

Scott Garceau and Jeremy Conn invited Terps analyst Chris Knoche on to the show to recap #2 Maryland’s tough loss to the #9 Tar Heels last night.

Jake Layman struggled in every facet of the game last night; especially on offense. Jeremy Conn asked Chris if he was surprised by Jake Layman’s quiet night offensively. “What surprised me Jeremy, was that I thought he was put into a position several times to do what he does best and that’s basically to make open shots. In the first possession of the game he got a shot in the left hand corner which is his sweet spot, there wasn’t anyone within 12 feet of him. He kind of short-armed that a little bit and I think that sort of foreshadowed what was to come. He never really got off the schneid unfortunately, he had a bunch of good looks from the 3 point line and some contended looks inside. It’s disappointing for Jake, I’m sure he feels as poorly as anybody. It’s the 7th game of the season, this is a guy who played a lot of minutes inside last year, now he’s back out at the 3. I think he will get accustomed to the spot, to his teammates, I think sometimes he’s out there thinking a little too much. It should be a game of catch and fire it because he has got that capability.”

Scott Garceau later asked Chris about the Terps’ defensive performance and their inability to get back on defense at times. “One of Roy Williams’ trademarks is that he likes to push the ball after a made basket. It really eliminates your ability to celebrate, you can’t be fired up. At one point Maryland hit a big three and they celebrated and Carolina scored on the other end, it happened three or four times. For an individual game in terms of preparation, it’s hard to prepare for that in just a couple of days. I don’t think the Terps adjusted to that at all. Now you look in hindsight, that’s a one possession game with four or five minutes to play. You have given away three of those baskets on lay ups where you didn’t get back, there’s your differential in the game right there. There are hundreds of plays in the game, they could have done a lot of them better, but that was certainly one thing that was easily correctable and should have been done.”

You can listen to the full interview here and don’t forget to follow Scott & Jeremy on twitter @ScottGShow1057 and @JeremyConn1057.